Werewolf In The Wild offers a jagged sensory overload

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Werewolf in the Wild [Itch.io link] is a ProcJam entry by Murray Lorden which I wanted to flag up because it’s very good at conveying the impression of seeing through something else’s eyes – in this case a werewolf.

The experience itself is a simple one. You spawn on terrain which is generated through randomising variables and is populated by trees and other basic forms which indicate a kind of sparse wilderness – rolling hills and maybe rocks or buildings or the odd tree, then a bird or two skimming overhead. You’re in first person view and you can run about, jump or just press T to generate a new landscape.

So it’s simple. But then there are the flickering, monochrome visuals. The terrain is viewed through this scratchy, grainy filter which stretches the light out as these slashes across the world. You can make out shapes and movement but the rest is indistinct and makes even these basic elements seem alien. Going alongside this is the soundscape. You’re panting and slavering the whole time, but the world also makes this resonant noise, like someone’s dragging a concrete slab across a metal grate. Every step or jump is marked with a tchhhm – like feet in snow but more violent and abrupt – and there’s a crackle as with a record player needle passing over dust that offers another layer of audio depth.

It’s kind of overwhelming and visually violent – not in the sense of blood and gore but jagged sensory overload. It’s pay-what-you-want and definitely worth a peek.